Best of the Best

Our son recommended that we watch this yesterday. He does not make too many requests so we listened to him. He has been unwell over the last few days. So when my wife and I travelled to London, we did not take him with us when we popped into see my mother.  She was sad that he was not with us, but understood that he needed to rest.  

We had intended to travel earlier in the day, but got caught up in traffic for the Spurs game. I know a few people who went to it, so I had to look at the result before Arsenal played. I laughed, but little did I know that would jinx us in our kick off. Arsenal, in the last few seasons, had a habit of dropping points if ahead in the table and playing an early kick off. This time we were level on points with the team that rhymes with City, but dropped points. I think that all would agree that Brighton deserved to win. Our son will be there next year as he will be going to The University of Sussex and he did watch the game with me. Hopefully he will end up an Arsenal fan though.

Anyway, back to the film. I will admit, I expected it to be terrible. I did wonder how they got so much set up with props, but the film was enjoyable. We all were glad to watch it, but I do not see me watching it again. 

Will Donald Trump copy Putin?

Elections for the Russian parliament are to take place. In two months time, elections will be taking place in America, the mid-terms where voters will get to decide if they want to stick with the party of high inflation, or the radical [insert Trump insult] Democrats. It is widely predicted that the Republicans are going to face a kicking in the elections. Trump has said different things about the state of the economy, including blaming (sleepy) Joe Biden as well as saying outright lies about petrol prices in the USA. He has even promised a handout to voters if they vote for him, legal, but something he has promised before.

Trump has been trying different ways to “prevent election fraud” and it will be interesting to see what his reactions to what will happen in Russia during these elections will be.  I may be being unfair to Putin and Russia, but they have form when it comes to fixing other elections. A famous image involves Russian votes adding up to 146%, but apparently this was a genuine mistake when reporting the 2011 elections as opposed to fraud. The same cannot be said for an election in 2012 when one electoral district had a 107% voter turnout, strangely the same district having a huge number of votes for Putin.  I hope that the elections in the USA and Russia will be free and fair. I suspect only one will be, but I will have to admit that I cannot be as optimistic about that as I was two years ago.

Practical Magic 2

My wife and I went to watch this film this week. We have been looking forwards to it after watching the first one, well to be fair, she had been looking forwards to it for longer. I did not think it would be as good as the sequel, and it was not. 

Some parts were great, the two main characters are amazing with each other, but other parts annoyed me, not the timeline, but certain issues with how the daughters were written.  Despite that, I am glad I watched it, not just because I did so with my wife, but I do think it was an okay film and I would watch it again.

If you don’t want spoilers, stop reading now. I do have a gripe with the UK being quaint, and the bus which was used to transport Kylie is not one I have seen in use for a long time. Likewise the train used by the main characters features rolling stock from a museum, one which I now want to visit. My main issue was with how the daughters went from not using their latent magic powers (which come out at times with their mother) to being able to use them in the blink of an eye. That is probably me being grumpy because those powers were not a major issue in the film and also were reminders of what happened in the original. Maybe I need to cheer up. 

Sydney Sweeney does it again

I have grown to like and admire Sydney Sweeney. I first saw her in White Lotus and hated her character (which you are meant to) but was won over by other performances, including The Handmaids Tale.  

But she appears to have embraced controversy.  She, like many, has implied who she votes for, and this is offended many.  But her adverts have been more interesting with the outrage.  The video about genes 1s not about eugenics and the video "about sports" is actually about betting.  I think it is awesome.  It is targeted at men and if not for the controversy, just like with American Eagle, I would never have heard about Novig. But as much as I like her two adverts, I love the spoof by Nerine Skinner more. 

Ed Sheeran being shot as the messenger

I like Ed Sheeran.  I think that he has ended up being the fall guy over the latest controversy. In summary, after a support act made a statement on stage in support of Palestine, he was given an ultimatum, to drop the act or else.  He did, and others have dropped him.  He was forced to be in a position where he could disappoint fans or allow them to listen to his music.

I think that people, who like me, are in favour of a Free Palestine, should direct our ire at the owners of the concert venues.  They are the ones who made this happen, and artists should boycott their venues until they allow civil free speech. 

Reform UK and donations

Reform UK are in the news again over donations.  But this time, I think it will work in their favour.  They have had two donations of 36 million pounds giving them the power to outspend all the other parties in the UK and have change, lots of it, left over.

One of the donors was pardoned by Donald Trump after being convicted in the USA, a fact that many of the news sources do not report on. 

But while people are now talking about this, they are not talking about how Reform UK appear to have tried to break the law on other donations.    

September 11th

Twenty five years ago, I came home from work for lunch.  I switched on the television and saw images after the first World Trade Centre had been hit.  From what I remember at the time, it was thought to be an accident.  And then the world saw another plane fly into the second tower. We realised then that the United States was under attack. 

I had an educational session that day and I went to it and told the others that planes had flown into The World Trade Centres, but the others there did not seem to pay much attention to it. By the time I returned home, we knew more.

I remember having tears in my eyes at the bravery of the emergency workers who ran into the first tower as people fled it so that they could save lives and fight the inferno that later destroyed the tower.  The world was shocked.

I was disgusted with the way that healthcare for those emergency workers who attended this was cut.  I am saddened with the way Donald Trump is lying about where he was on the day.  We are used to him lying, but this one is so easily shown to be one. 

The UK takes further action against Israel

One of the many times that I am proud to be British has been when it comes to the actions of this government in imposing sanctions on the illegal occupation of The West Bank.  As discussed before, I disagree with the term Genocide when it comes to how the Palestinian people are being treated, but I do consider Israel to be engaging in Ethnic Cleansing.  

I was full of hope when The Oslo Accords were signed.  I still want them to be honoured, with settlements and their inhabitants being allowed to remain, but under the control of The Palestinian Authority with an end to segregation, allowing Muslims and Christians to live in them side by side with Jews.  

Parliament has spoken, mostly with one voice. More action can be taken, I have discussed this with my daughter, and I have been clear that I think that F35 fighter parts produced in the UK should still go to Israel.  But I do think that the military aid we give with flights out of Cyprus should end. 

Do all lives matter?

The term All Lives Matter is one that is controversial.  I think that it applies right now in the UK.  Plastic patriots have been taking to the streets to protest against Farage Boats crossing The Channel.  The RNLI has been something that they have not liked for a while, a service that many on the left have funded.  

Patriots need to remember that the numbers of Farage boats has increased since Brexit and if they wanted them to stop, the best way to do so would be to re-join the EU.

Political violence in the UK

I have been clear on many occasions that political violence in the UK is wrong.  Nigel Farage and Reform UK Ltd have shown appalling double standards when it comes to this.  Violence to any politician is wrong, that includes throwing a milk shake over Farage. But that also includes violence to a heckler.  I do not think that the Right to Protest should interfere with the Right to Free Speech, even when it is funny, but violence to solve it is wrong. Unless it is when John Prescott is punching someone who started it, that being because it was his right to retaliate when faced with a physical attack. 

The follow-up question all those who have interviewed Reform UK Ltd politicians have missed is what their views would be if someone hit Nigel Farage over the head with a crutch, or attacked him in the same way the heckler was attacked. 

Donations to Reform UK (Ltd) again

Reform UK Ltd are in the news again.  Over donations, again.  It was not too long ago that there was the issues about a five million pound gift.  That drowned out the other donations, including one from a donor who "earned" a pardon from Donald Trump.  

There is nothing patriotic with a political party being funded by millionaires from abroad. 

Return of the daughter

Our daughter is back from Albania. She had travelled there with a friend and was meant to return during the week, but when abroad her phone died.  We give our children hand-me-down phones and she pointed out that the phone she had was older than the dog. On occasion the phone will turn on, but will be green. I think it is communing with The Matrix. Needless to say I have been told not to tell her that! 

My wife and I drove to Heathrow with our dog in the back of the car to collect her and her friend. Having only one phone between them, the two wished to return from a nation, which while beautiful, was culturally quite different in their behaviour towards women.

Anyway, it is the twenty first birthday of our daughter next month, so I have bought her a brand new iPhone which will arrive tomorrow, which will be her early birthday present. She has promised to pay her friend back for the early flight home so will be returning to working for two days later this week.